


Like Something From a Dream

by Nevanna



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Episode: s02e19 Weirdmageddon 2: Escape From Reality, Gen, Missing Scene, Post-Episode: s02e20 Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back the Falls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-17
Packaged: 2019-03-05 21:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13396794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: Dipper tries not to be tempted by the thing that he wants most.





	Like Something From a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place during the series finale, and was written in response to a request by Nelja. The text doesn't contain all the words in her prompt, but I hope that she enjoys it anyway.

Dipper crouches underneath the Chius’ porch – theirs is one of two houses on the street that hasn’t melted or grown scales, though the mailbox growled at him as he ran past it – and wonders if the passing eye-bats can hear how loudly his heart is beating. He feels empty and exhausted for reasons that have nothing to do with how little he’s eaten in the last two days, and he’s started to think that, if Bill captured him and turned him into a statue, he’d at least get some rest.

Dipper’s had plenty of nightmares about Bill, but he’s stopped hoping that he’ll wake up from this one. He’s feared for his life a dozen times or more since arriving in Gravity Falls, but he can almost look back on those times as puzzles for him and Mabel to solve, games for them to win, often by asking, _What would the author of the journals do?_

The promise of an apprenticeship with Ford now seems like the faintest memory of a dream, but Dipper knows – or at least tries to believe – that his uncle wouldn’t want him to hide. He can’t even begin to imagine what kind of prison Bill has designed for Mabel, but he’s pretty sure that he won’t be able to help her as a statue.

Assuming that she still wants his help.  
.  
\--

The colors of Mabeland are still glaringly bright, but now Dipper can look at the landscape without his eyes watering. He needs some time to think, and to come up with the right words to convince his sister that she can’t replace reality with a dream world, no matter how many dance parties or gummy bear ice cream sundaes it promises…

When a familiar voice calls his name, he almost manages to keep walking, until he feels the reassuring weight of a six-fingered hand on his shoulder. Dipper tries to remind himself that it’s not real, but he can feel the tension of the last few days starting to ease as he hears Ford say, “I’m so glad that I found you, my boy,” and “I have a plan to stop Bill, but I can’t do it without you,” and “I won’t let anyone hurt you. You’re my _apprentice_.”

Somehow, Dipper finds the strength to pull away. “No, I’m _not_.”

His own words don’t truly hit him until he’s facing Mabel in a courtroom filled with creatures from her imagination, and realizes that he knows _exactly_ what to say.

As they flee Mabeland, he only looks back once, just long enough to glimpse Ford’s face, eyes glowing with Bill’s demonic yellow stare, among their pursuers.

\--

When Dipper hears papers rustling from the next room, he adjusts his grip on what might once have been part of the banister. He thought that he’d fall asleep as soon as Mabel did, or when he heard Stan (who’s remembered all of their names by now) climbing the stairs, but it turned out that he could only close his eyes for a few moments at a time before the memories sunk their claws in again.

Dipper tries to step slowly and quietly, which isn’t easy when half the floorboards in the Mystery Shack are still loose. 

He’s passing by the kitchen when he hears Ford call, “Dipper, I know that’s you.” He’s sitting at the table, flipping through a stack of files by the wavering light of a lantern. “Stealth is an admirable skill in a paranormal investigator, but you haven’t quite mastered it yet.”

He indicates the chair next to him with a smile, doesn’t ask why his nephew is awake, and seems to understand why Dipper peers up at him from time to time to make sure that the yellow gleam in his glasses is just a trick of the light.


End file.
